Previously Held AFSC/MOS 46250-Weapons Mechanic
2W1X1-Aircraft Armament Systems
2W1X1H-Aircraft Armament Systems F-111
8R000-Recruiter
2W1X1C-Aircraft Armament Systems A-10
1C3X1-Command Post Apprentice
Enjoying life now that I am retired. Gotta say though, I LOVED almost every day I served on Active Duty. Yes, even the ones where we were recalled at o-dark thirty, and had to sit in a Mobility line doing a bag-drag for hours and doing nothing else, only then to be told we were released to go home, or in some cases, to work. I miss it ALL!
I had the most FUN as a Weapons Loader, or Load Toad. But the most rewarding job was as a Command Post Controller. Recruiting? Forget it.
Other Comments:
Gulf War/Defense of Saudi Arabia/Operation Desert Shield
From Month/Year
August / 1990
To Month/Year
January / 1991
Description
On this day August 3 1990, President George Herbert Walker Bush orders the organization of Operation Desert Shield in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2. The order prepared American troops to become part of an international coalition in the war against Iraq that would be launched as Operation Desert Storm in January 1991. To support Operation Desert Shield, Bush authorized a dramatic increase in U.S. troops and resources in the Persian Gulf.
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and hard-line Iraqi nationalists had always believed Kuwait should be part of Iraq, but nationalist propaganda aside, acquiring control of Kuwait’s oil fields was Hussein’s primary interest. In addition, control of Kuwait represented a strategic military objective should Iraq be forced into a war with its western-friendly Arab neighbors. Hussein calculated incorrectly that the United States and the United Nations, who were closely tracking Iraq’s military buildup along Kuwait’s borders, would not try to stop him. However, when Iraqi ground forces entered Kuwait on August 2, 1990, President Bush immediately proclaimed that the invasion “would not stand” and vowed to help Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in their efforts to force the Iraqis from Kuwaiti land.
On November 29, 1990, the United Nations Security Council authorized the use of “all means necessary” to remove Hussein’s forces from Kuwait, giving Iraq the deadline of midnight on January 16, 1991, to leave or risk forcible removal. After negotiations between U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and Iraq’s foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, failed, Congress authorized President Bush to use American troops in the coming conflict.
